Archive for the ‘Al Qaida in Pakistan’ Category

At least 13 killed in blast at Peshawar funeral prayer, injuring more than 20….

ISLAMABAD |11 Mar 2012 | IANS: Thirteen people were killed Sunday when a huge explosion ripped through a funeral prayer being held in Pakistan’s Peshawar city. The deputy speaker of the provincial assembly left the spot minutes before the blast.

The explosion occurred during funeral prayers in Budh Bher area in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The deafening explosion spread panic in the area, with the wounded crying out in pain.

Reports varied on the number of injured. While one media report put the figure at 29, another said 31 people were left bloodied.

Geo News reported that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Deputy Speaker Khushdil Khan, who also attended the prayers, had left the spot minutes before the blast.

Xinhua cited a TV report as saying that the bomb was mounted on a motorcycle.

The area where the bombing took place is known for anti-Taliban ‘Lashkars’ (volunteers) who support security forces against the militants. It was not clear if any leaders of the peace committee who are routinely targeted by the militants attended the funeral.

A little over a week back, an intelligence official was fatally shot in Peshawar.

On March 2, gunmen opened fire at Bashir Khan, an Intelligence Bureau inspector who was on his way to work on his motorcycle. His 13-year-old son was injured in the ambush.

Pakistan is battling militants, who have viciously struck back.

On Feb 24, three policemen were killed and six injured when three heavily armed suicide attackers went on a shooting spree and hurled grenades at a police station in Peshawar. Hours later, a suspected terrorist was injured while planting a bomb.

The brazen attack was carried out a day after a deadly car bomb killed over a dozen people and injured more than 20 in the city.

Rescue workers go through the wreckage of damaged vehicles at the site of a bomb explosion in Jamrud bazaar, about 25 km west of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan January 10, 2012.—Reuters Photo

Blast kills 35 in Jumrad (Khyber agency) injuring 6o others.

PESHAWAR || Tuesday 10th January 2012 || Safar 15, 1433: A remote-controlled bomb blast killed 35 people and wounded more than 60 others on Tuesday in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan Tuesday in the deadliest such attack in months, officials said.

The explosion took place in a market in Jamrud, one of the towns of the troubled Khyber tribal region, which also used to serve as the main supply route for Nato forces operating in Afghanistan.

“The total number of deaths in the blast is 35 while 69 people were wounded, and of them the condition of 11 is critical,” a senior administration official, Shakeel Khan Umarzai, told AFP.

Another top official in Khyber, Mutahir Zeb, said the target of the attack was not immediately clear.

“According to initial information, it was a remote controlled device planted in a passenger pickup van,” he said.

There were about 120 bomb attacks in Pakistan in 2011 and the same number in 2010 according to an AFP tally – an increase from 2009, but far below the violence of 2009 when there were more than 200 bomb blasts.

The BBC’s Aleem Maqbool: “Pakistanis over the last couple of years have become used to atrocities like this”

Jamrud target

The frequency of high-profile bombings has decreased in Pakistan over the past year. This is the bloodiest attack since a suicide bomber killed at least 40 people at a mosque, also in Jamrud, in August last.

Jamrud has been the target of several major blasts in recent years.

No group has said it carried out this latest attack as yet.

The BBC’s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the Jamrud area is dominated by the Kukikhel branch of the Afridi tribe, who have organised a militia to fight a local faction of the Taliban.

Several militant groups fighting the government are active in Khyber region, which is close to the Afghan border.

Although the target of this attack has not been confirmed, one report suggests members of the anti-Taliban militia were in the vicinity when the blast took place.

Pakistan is a key US ally in the fight against militancy in the region and its army has carried out several offensives against militants in their tribal strongholds.

Correspondents say there has been recent media speculation about peace talks between elements of the Taliban and the Pakistani government. But militants denied such talks, saying they would take revenge if the army continued to carry out attacks against them.

On Monday, at least 10 paramilitary troops, who had been abducted late last year, were found shot dead in neighbouring Orakzai tribal region.

Photo : Pakistanis mourn over the death of their relative killed in a firing incident, at a local hospital in Quetta, Pakistan on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

Gunmen attack Shiite Muslims in Pakistan, kill 13

Courtesy to Source : The Associated Press

Date: Tuesday Oct. 4, 2011 7:44 AM ET || Ziqa’ad 5, 1432

QUETTA, Pakistan — Suspected Sunni extremistsexecuted 13 ShiiteMuslimsafter ordering them off a bus and lining them up Tuesday in southwestern Pakistan, ramping up a campaign of sectarian violence that has exposed Islamabad’s inability to protect minorities.

Sunni militants with links to al Qaeda and the Taliban have carried out scores of bombings and shootings across the country against minority Shiites in recent years, but this summer has been especially bloody in Baluchistan province, with at least four major attacks since May.

The gunmen who attacked Tuesday were riding on motorbikes and stopped a bus carrying mostly Shiite Muslims who were headed to work at a vegetable market on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, said police official Hamid Shakeel.

The attackers forced the people off the bus, made them stand in a line and then opened fire, said Shakeel.

The dead included 13 Shiites and one Sunni, he said. Six people were wounded — four Shiites and two Sunnis.

Local TV footage showed relatives wailing at the hospital where the dead and wounded were brought. One relative hugged a wounded man as another walked by, his clothes soaked with blood.

Shiites blocked the main highway on the outskirts of Quetta to protest the killings. They also set fire to the bus that had taken the dead and wounded to the hospital.

Sunni extremists carried out a similar attack on Shiite pilgrims travelling through Baluchistan via bus about two weeks ago, killing 26 people.

Both incidents targeted the Hazaras, a Shiite tribe that lives in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where they have also been attacked by Sunni militants. Security forces in the Baluchistan region, who are also battling separatist rebels, have proved largely powerless to stop the violence.

Pakistan is a majority Sunni Muslim state, with around 15 per cent Shiite.

Most Sunnis and Shiites live together peacefully in Pakistan, though tensions have existed for decades.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Pakistan became the scene of a proxy war between mostly Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, with both sides funneling money to sectarian groups that regularly targeted each other.

The level of sectarian violence has declined somewhat since then, but attacks continue. In recent years, Sunni attacks on Shiites have been far more common.

The groups have been energized by al Qaeda and the Taliban, which are also Sunni and share the belief that Shiites are infidels and it is permissible to kill them. The Sunni-Shiite schism over the true heir to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad dates back to the seventh century.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, one of the country’s most ruthless Sunni militant groups, claimed responsibility for the attack in Baluchistan two weeks ago. One of its alleged leaders, Malik Ishaq, was released from prison on bail in July after being held for 14 years on charges, never proven, of killing Shiites.

Ishaq was re-arrested about a week ago after making inflammatory speeches against Shiites in the country. He was not charged but detained under a public order act, which means he can be held for three months.

It’s not clear whether Ishaq’s speeches have been connected to the recent wave of sectarian attacks.

Other reports for this topic :

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly was outraged across party lines on Tuesday by the killing of at least 13 people in a sectarian attack near Quetta, with some government allies demanding that the interior minister and the Balochistan chief minister resign and the federal government impose governor’s rule in the troubled province.…..eDAWN.<Click here.

The policemen appointed on a three-year contract were going to Abbottabad for training. — Dawn File photo

Four killed in bomb attack on police convoy

MANSEHRA||2nd October, 2011 : Four policemen were killed and 15 others injured when a bomb blast ripped through their convoy in Torghar district (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) on Saturday (on 1st oct) .

“The bomb planted on Torghar-Thakot road was detonated by remote control. It hit one of the three vehicles in the convoy. Four policemen were killed and 15 others injured,” Torghar district police officer Fareed Khan told reporters at the DHQ Hospital in Battagram.

The policemen appointed on a three-year contract were going to Abbottabad for training.

It was the first terrorist attack in Torghar since President Asif Ali Zardari changed its tribal status and made it a district through a notification issued on Jan 27 this year.

Soon after the attack, security personnel cordoned off the area and took the injured to a heath facility in Shahgai from where they were shifted to hospitals in Battagram and Abbottabad.

The deceased were identified as Naqeebullah, Mohammad Nadeem, Rafeeullah and Fazlur Rehman.

“Two vehicles had passed safely. The blast occurred when our vehicle was passing through the area. I don’t know what happened after that,” said Habibullah Ahmad, an injured constable.

DPO Fareed said one of the policemen died on the spot, two in the DHQ Hospital and another on way to Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad.

Eight of the injured were taken to the DHQ Hospital and seven to Ayub Medical Complex.

In reply to a question, he said it would be premature to say who was behind the attack.

According to the bomb disposal squad, which reached the area four hours after the incident, the bomb was packed with 10-12 kilograms of locally-made explosive.

Haqqani network is a “veritable arm” of ISI: Mullen

Agencies |Shawwal 23, 1432 | Thursday 22nd September 2011

WASHINGTON: The US military’s top officer bluntly accused Pakistan on Thursday of “exporting” violent extremism to Afghanistan through proxies and warned of possible US action to protect American troops.

In a severe indictment of Pakistan’s links with terror groups, top US military commander Thursday said the ISI provided support to the Haqqani terror network in carrying out the recent attack on the country’s embassy in Kabul.

“The Haqqani network, for one, acts as a veritable arm of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency. With ISI support, Haqqani operatives planned and conducted that truck bomb attack, as well as the assault on our embassy,” Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“We also have credible intelligence that they were behind the June 28th attack against the Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul and a host of other smaller but effective operations,” he said.

“In choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan — and most especially the Pakistani Army and ISI — jeopardises not only the prospect of our strategic partnership, but also Pakistan’s opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence,” Mullen said.

He said Pakistan may believe that by using these proxies they are hedging their bets, or redressing what they feel is an imbalance of regional power but in reality, they have already lost that bet.

“By exporting violence, they have eroded their internal security and their position in the region. They have undermined their international credibility and threatened their economic well-being.

“Only a decision to break with this policy can pave the road to a positive future for Pakistan,” Mullen said.

The Admiral added, “As you know, I have expended enormous energy on this relationship. I’ve met with General Kayani more than two dozen times — including a two-and-a-half hour meeting last weekend in Spain.

“I’ve done this because I believe in the importance of Pakistan to the region, because I believe that we share a common interest against terrorism, and because I recognise the great political and economic difficulties Pakistan faces.”

Referring to his meetings with Pakistan Army chief in the past two years, Mullen said some may argue he have wasted his time, that Pakistan is no closer to US than before… and may now have drifted even further away.

“I disagree. Military cooperation is warming. Information flow between us and across the border is quickening. Transparency is returning, slowly,” he noted.

“With Pakistan’s help we have disrupted al-Qaeda and its senior leadership in the border regions and degraded its ability to plan and conduct terror attacks.

“Indeed, I think we would be in a far tougher situation today, in the wake of the frostiness which fell over us after the bin Laden raid, were it not for the groundwork General Kayani and I had laid — were it not for the fact that we could at least have a conversation about the way ahead, however difficult that conversation might be,” Mullen said.

He said what matters most right now is moving forward.

While the relationship must be guided by clear principles to which both sides adhere, Mullen said “we can no longer focus solely on the most obvious issues.”

“We should help create more stakeholders in Pakistan’s prosperity, help the Pakistani people address their economic, political, and internal security challenges, and promote Indo-Pak cooperation on the basis of true sovereign equality,” Mullen said.

A policeman stands beside the wrekage of a bomb blast site in Peshawar. -AFP Photo

Medium Islamic blast took away five injuring thirty in Pak Peshawar. High chances for more casualties.

Bomb kills five, wounds 28 in Peshawar

Monday 19th September 2011 | Shawwal 20, 1432 | Dawn News.

Fire Fire everywhere...Islamic peace where ever.

PESHAWAR: A bomb killed at least five people and wounded 28 others at a market selling CDs in the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar on Monday, officials said.

“We have received five bodies and 28 wounded people from the blast site,” Doctor Rahim Jan, who works at Peshawar’s main government hospital, told AFP, adding that there was one woman among the dead.

Provincial government minister Bashir Bilour confirmed the death toll and told AFP at the hospital that police had informed him that the bomb was probably planted in a motorcycle.

Peshawar police chief Imtiaz Altaf told reporters at the scene of the blast that “the target was the CD market.”

Jalalud Din, a 35-year-old lawyer, who received head injuries from the blast, said he was buying sweets for his children.

“There was a huge blast as I was buying candies for my kids. I lost consciousness after my head struck a wall,” Din said.

Earlier Monday, a Taliban suicide car bomber flattened the house of a senior counter-terrorism police officer in Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi, killing eight people including six policemen.

Nearly 4,700 people have been killed across Pakistan in attacks blamed on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked networks based in the country’s northwestern tribal belt since government troops stormed a radical mosque in Islamabad in 2007. Courtesy : Dawn | AFP.

Allah followers preferred a Car this time to make a Jihadi device to blast for Islamic Peace .

The Power of Islamic Jihad. Pakistani security personnel gather at the car bomb blast site in Karachi on September 19, 2011. - AFP Photo

Taliban suicide blast in Karachi leaves eight dead

Monday 19th September 2011 | Shawwal 20, 1432 |DAWN eAFP

What a depth of Islamic Jihad. More than three feet penetration of Islam under the earth.

KARACHI: A car-borne Taliban suicide bomber flattened the house of a senior counter-terrorism police officer in Karachi on Monday, killing eight people including six policemen.

Senior Superintendent Aslam Khan, who was unhurt in the attack but whose home was destroyed, told AFP he had been threatened by the Pakistani Taliban and knew that he was the target.

The militant group claimed responsibility for the attack and said Khan had been targeted for arresting, torturing and killing Taliban members.

Khan heads the counter-terrorism unit of the Police Crime Investigation Department in Karachi, investigating Islamist militant cells in the port city of 18 million people, which is a vital hub for Afghan-bound Nato supplies.

“It was a car bomb attack on my house,” he said. “I was receiving threats from Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP). Taliban are involved in this attack.” Several neighbouring houses were also wrecked in the attack, an AFP reporter saw, with four cars being badly damaged and a two-metre deep crater left in front of Khan’s home.

An AFP reporter at the scene saw rubble, mud and pieces of glass scattered over a large area in the upscale residential neighbourhood.

“Eight people including six policemen have been killed and several others were wounded,” Shoukat Hussain, another senior police officer, told AFP. “A child and a woman were also killed. It was a car suicide attack.” Speaking to reporters outside the remains of his one-storey bungalow, Khan said: “I woke up from sleep and saw fire around. I ran towards the other rooms of the house and saw my family safe but bewildered.

“This was a cowardly act of Taliban. I am not scared of Taliban. Let me tell you that I will not spare them in future.” Karachi city police chief Saud Mirza confirmed that Khan had received TTP threats, including one recent written threat.

“We claim responsibility for the attack. Aslam Khan has killed a number of our colleagues and also arrested and tortured many more,” TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP in a phone call from an undisclosed location.

“He was on our hit list and he is still on our hit list,” Ehsan said, giving names of several other police and crime investigation department officials also targeted. “They will be killed soon,” he vowed.

The TTP has members across the country and the attack was planned by a local branch, Ehsan added.

Witness Naeem Shaikh said he was taking his children to school when he heard a huge explosion.

“I went across a lane and saw this house destroyed and huge flames around it,” said Shaikh, who lives in the area.

He saw the bodies of a boy, later identified as a second-year school pupil (aged eight or nine), and his mother lying near the house. “The boy’s schoolbag was lying abandoned nearby,” Shaikh said, choking.

Karachi, Pakistan’s economic hub, is currently undergoing its worst ethnic- and politically-linked unrest in 16 years, with more than 100 people killed in one week alone last month.

The gang wars have been linked to ethnic tensions between the Mohajirs, the Urdu-speaking majority represented by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and Pashtun migrants affiliated to the rival Awami National Party.

The nationally ruling Pakistan People’s Party, which was elected in 2008 after nine years of military rule, insists that civilian authorities are capable of controlling the bloodshed, despite calls for military intervention. Courtesy: Dawn | AFP | Agencies.

Eighteenkilled as militants attack Khyber checkpost

PESHAWAR: At least eighteen people were killed when Taliban militants attacked a checkpost manned by pro-government tribesman and security forces in northwest Pakistan, officials said on Sunday.

Armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, the militants killed four ethnic Pashtun tribesmen and a paramilitary soldier in the late Saturday attack.

Members of a tribal militia and security forces retaliated, killing 10 militants, said a senior government official in the Khyber region near the Afghan border, where the incident took place.

“A large number of weapons from the militants were also confiscated,” said the official, Rehan Khattak.

Pakistan’s Taliban have stepped up attacks on Pashtun tribes who have raised militias to help security forces.

At least 40 people were killed and 68 wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a funeral of a member of a pro-government tribe in the northwestern Lower Dir district on Thursday.

Militants also claimed responsibility for an attack on a school bus on Tuesday which killed five people, saying the children on the bus were from a pro-government tribe.

The Taliban are also holding more than 20 young men hostage from a pro-government tribe in an area straddling the Afghan border and have demanded the release of scores of prisoners and an end to support of military offensives against them.

Pakistani authorities have been encouraging the Pashtun tribes to revive traditional militias to counter the growing number of militants fighting the Pakistani state.

Under a centuries-old tradition, the tribes raise the militias, or lashkars, in their semi-autonomous regions to fight criminal gangs and enforce their tribal codes.

Unidentified armed assailants opened fire on a passenger vehicle in Lower Kurram on Sunday, killing three people in the process. - Dawn File Photo.

Threekilled in attack on passenger bus in lower Kurram

DawnNews | Sunday 18th September 2011 | Shawwal 19, 1432

PESHAWAR: Three people were killed on Sunday when unidentified armed assailants opened fire on a passenger bus in the Haider Khan area of lower Kurram Agency, DawnNews reported.

According to sources, the three men were traveling from Parachinar to Alizai when the armed attackers opened fire on their vehicle. Moreover, it was reported that all three of them were members of the Tori tribe belonging to the blockaded Parachinar region.

Many killed in Pakistan’s Quetta blast.

Source : World Bulletin – The attack targeted and wounded a brigadier of a paramilitary unit involved in Pakistan’s capture of Younis al-Mauritani and two other al Qaeda operatives in Quetta in an operation announced on Monday.

Suicide bombers targeting a paramilitary brigadier killed at least 20 people in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, apparently to avenge the capture of an al Qaeda leader, a security official said.

The attack targeted and wounded a brigadier of a paramilitary unit involved in Pakistan’s capture of Younis al-Mauritani and two other al Qaeda operatives in Quetta in an operation announced on Monday.

“Our fidayeen (suicide bombers) have carried out this attack. It is a revenge for the arrests of our brothers in Quetta,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“If they make more arrests then the reaction will be much more forceful.”

“This (Wednesday’s) attack has all the hallmarks of the Taliban. It seems to be revenge for the arrest of al-Mauritani,” said a senior security official.

Intelligence officials put the death toll from the Quetta attack at about 25. Sixty-one people were wounded.

The head of one of the suicide bombers had been found, and the features indicated he may have been from Afghanistan’s Tajik ethnic group, said the senior security official.

One of the suicide bombers blew himself up in a vehicle packed with explosives near the car of the deputy head of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in Baluchistan, Farrukh Shehzad.

Shehzad’s wife was killed, police said.

The other suicide bomber struck inside his house. The dead also included a colonel in Pakistan’s paramilitary forces and seven of Shehzad’s guards. The explosions brought down the walls of his house and nearby offices.

~eReuters.

Afghan behaind Quetta Blast.

ANITA JOSHUA | THE HINDU.

As many as 24 people were killed and 70 injured in two suicide attacks in quick succession at the residence of the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Frontier Corps (FC) in the high security Civil Lines area of Quetta on Wednesday morning.

According to the police, the first suicide bomber rammed his car into a FC vehicle parked outside the DIG’s residence. In the melee that followed, the second bomber entered the residence and detonated himself. The dead includes the wife of the DIG and a FC officer.

Since the house is located near the Commissioner Office, traffic was heavy at the time of the attacks and several security personnel — present in the area in strength in view of the restive nature of the entire Balochistan province — were killed in the twin blasts.

An identification card retrieved from the remains of one of the bombers revealed him to be an Afghan national. Given the intensity of the blasts and the nature of injuries sustained by some of those battling for their lives in hospitals across the city, police fear that the death toll could rise.

The Taliban have reportedly claimed responsibility for the blasts. The attack is being linked to the role played by the FC in nabbing three al-Qaeda operatives in Quetta recently. The announcement of their arrest was made on Monday by the Army without disclosing when exactly the trio were picked up.

According to the Army, the FC had coordinated with the ISI in the “intelligence driven operation” to nab the three operatives including Younis Al Mauritani who was reported to have been tasked directly by Osama bin Laden to target U.S. and European economic facilities. The Army also acknowledged the technical support provided by the CIA in these arrests.

U.S., U.K. condemn

The U.S. and the U.K. have condemned the attacks through their respective diplomatic missions in Islamabad. In a statement, the U.S. Embassy said: “Nothing can justify immoral and indiscriminate attacks against innocents including Pakistan’s security forces.” Saluting Pakistan’s “brave security forces”, the statement reiterated U.S. resolve to stand with the people of Pakistan as they work for a future free of the violence and destruction wrought by al Qaeda and associated groups.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague in a related statement described the attack as a stark reminder of the threat Pakistan faces from terrorism. “The UK is committed to standing together with Pakistan in the fight against terrorism in all its forms and we will continue to work together to counter this threat.”

Younis Al Mauritani, Top Al Qaeda Suspect, Arrested In Pakistan

CHRIS BRUMMITT and ADAM GOLDMAN 09|5|11 – 02:50 PM ET

ISLAMABAD — A battered al-Qaida suffered another significant blow when Pakistani agents working with the CIA arrested a senior leader believed to have been tasked by Osama bin Laden with targeting American economic interests around the globe, Pakistan announced Monday.

Younis al-Mauritani’s arrest – made public six days before the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – also point to improved cooperation between two uneasy anti-terror allies after the rancor surrounding bin Laden’s killing.

Al-Qaida has seen its senior ranks thinned since bin Laden was killed May 2 in a raid by U.S. Navy SEALs in Pakistan without the knowledge of local authorities. Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the terror network’s No. 2, was killed in a CIA missile strike last month.

Pakistan’s unusual public announcement of close cooperation with the U.S. spy agency appeared aimed at reversing the widespread perception that ties between the CIA and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been badly damaged by bin Laden’s death. The Pakistanis accused the Americans of violating their sovereignty with the raid, while Washington was angry the terror leader had been found in a house in a military garrison town.

The Pakistani military said the arrest of al-Mauritani and two other Qaida operatives took place near the Afghan border in the southwestern city of Quetta, long known as a base for militants. It did not say when. The arrests were carried out in the past two weeks, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

The capture of an al-Qaida operative inside Pakistan has become rare in recent years: most targets of CIA operations in the country have been killed by drone aircraft in a relentless series of operations that started to increase in 2008. His capture is likely to create chaos within al-Qaida: even if he does not reveal compromising information, that possibility is almost certain to force the network to alter plans, move operatives and make a variety of other sudden changes, damaging its ability to carry out attacks.

“This operation was planned and conducted with technical assistance of United State Intelligence Agencies with whom Inter-Services Intelligence has a strong, historic intelligence relationship. Both Pakistan and United States Intelligence agencies continue to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations,” the military said in a written statement.

Al-Qaida’s center of operations is believed to be in the lawless tribal areas of northwest Pakistan, many hours from Quetta, a large city that is home to both the Taliban’s ruling council and a significant Pakistani military presence.

The statement said al-Mauritani was mainly responsible for al-Qaida’s international operations and was tasked by bin Laden with hitting targets of economic importance in America, Europe and Australia. It said he was planning attacks on gas and oil pipelines, power generating dams and oil tankers that would be hit by explosive-laden speed boats in international waters.

It named the other two detainees as Abdul-Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami. In its statement, the Pakistani army also described them as senior operatives.

“This action has dealt yet another blow to al-Qaida and is an example of the longstanding partnership between the United States and Pakistan in fighting terrorism,” White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said. “We applaud the actions of Pakistan’s intelligence and security services that led to the capture of a senior al-Qaida operative who was involved in planning attacks against the interests of the United States and many other countries.”

The U.S. has said it doesn’t know of any specific al-Qaida plot to attack the U.S. ahead of Sept. 11.

The U.S. provided “critical lead information and technical assistance in working with Pakistan” against al-Mauritani, another American official said on condition of anonymity, in order to discuss intelligence. Al-Mauritani is considered “a seasoned, senior operative” trusted by the group’s top leaders, who the U.S. believes “played an absolutely central role in planning and coordinating al Qaeda’s operations in Europe,” with plots that targeted both European and American interests, the official said.

Since the 2001, attacks, Pakistan’s spy agency has cooperated with the CIA to arrest scores of al-Qaida suspects, most of whom were handed over to the United States.

“This reflects how Pakistan and the United States working together can deal an effective blow to the terrorists,” said Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani. He said the intelligence cooperation had been restored almost to levels prior to a series of U.S.-Pakistan diplomatic clashes.

Many top al-Qaida commanders are still believed to live in Pakistan, and getting Islamabad’s cooperation in cracking down on the network has been a top American goal since 2001. But there have been persistent suspicions that the country was protecting militants. The fact that bin Laden was killed in an army town close to the capital, Islamabad, led to fresh doubts over Pakistan’s commitment.

Michael Vickers, the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for intelligence, told The New York Times in a recent interview there were perhaps four important al-Qaida leaders left in Pakistan, and 10 to 20 leaders over all in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Clebrating Eid Day : Pak Sunni Style.

Quetta blast kills 11, injures 20 on Eid day.

A police official says a car bomb has exploded in Quetta, killing at least 11 people.

QUETTA, Pakistan ||Shawwal 01, 1432 || Wednesday, 31 August 2011 – A suicide car bomber attacked worshippers in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday as they were heading home after morning prayers at the start of an Islamic holiday. The blast killed at least eleven people, officials said.

The attack occurred in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, which is home to both Taliban militants and nationalists who have waged a decades-long insurgency against the Pakistani government. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing.

There were conflicting reports about the death toll from the blast.

Initially, Quetta police chief Ahsan Mahboob said five people were killed in the suicide attack. But Babul Baluch, a member of the Edhi Foundation, which runs ambulance services throughout Pakistan, said 10 people were killed.

The blast also wounded at least 17 people and damaged nearby vehicles and buildings, said Mahboob.

Now, the sources confirmed the death toll of 11 people injuring another 20.

The attack was a somber beginning to Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday that comes at the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. In Pakistan, the three-day holiday started

Abdul Jamil, a resident nearby says the blast occurred on Wednesday as hundreds of people were leaving a mosque in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.

The crowd had just finished morning prayers to mark Eid al-Fitr. Jamil says at least 20 people were wounded in the attack.

No group immediately claimed responsibility. A car bomb Wednesday killed at least 11 people and wounded 20 others in the restive southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, police said.

“The bomb was planted in a car and an unidentified man parked it at the site and left.”

Hashim said there had been no immediate claim of responsibility and police could not speculate who could be behind the bombing, although the blast site was in an area populated by minority Shiite Muslims.

Hospital official Rasheed Jamali said there was one woman among the five dead brought to hospital.

Witnesses said several cars parked nearby also caught fire and a house was damaged.

Live television footage showed swirls of thick, black smoke as people ran into the street, some pushing their cars to safety, while ambulances carried away the wounded.

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Eid Mubarak.

I prayed to Allah to give a chance to convey a peaceful Eid greetings to all. But I am unfortunate enough. A painful Eid Mubarak to all.

These days, I am very much unwell. This blog is not updated. It could not be. Who are requesting me again again for this, I am saying sorry to my brothers and sisters. Please make dua for me for a prompt recovery and world peace.